After 7, 77 knocks, Ruturaj Gaikwad jumps to 7th spot in ICC T20I rankings in a fresh tribute to MS Dhoni

India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad is growing by leaps and bounds in the international cricket. The right-hander broke into the top 10 of the ICC T20I rankings for batters on Wednesday (10th July) after his good outing with the bat in the second T20I against the Zimbabwe National Cricket Team.

Ruturaj Gaikwad played the match-winning knock for the India National Cricket Team in the second T20I against Zimbabwe. After failing in the first game as he scored just 7, the right-hander made sure that he made up that in the second game of the series and helped his team win the game and level the series.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was one of the main reasons behind India putting a massive total of 234 runs on the board. When the going was tough, he stood tall for his team and ensured that he batted till the very last. He came to bat at No.3 inside the powerplay and finished the innings on high.

Ruturaj Gaikwad slammed a brilliant half-century and ended with the innings of unbeaten 77 runs off 47 balls. He batted with a strike rate of over 163 and also hit 11 fours and 1 six in his innings. His knock turned out to be match-winning as India won the match by 100 runs.

After his 77 runs knock in the second game against Zimbabwe, Ruturaj Gaikwad made huge gains in the ICC rankings for the batters in T20Is. He jumped 13 spots from the 20th position to acquire the 7th spot, which many believe is his latest tribute to MS Dhoni. If he continues playing the same, the rank surely will be raised as India has three more games left.

Apart from Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma also entered the ICC rankings for the batters in T20Is. The young batter slammed a brutal ton in the second T20I against Zimbabwe and bagged the 75th rank in the T20I format. Rinku Singh also made substantial gains.

The Southpaw, who played the knock of unbeaten 48 runs, jumped four places to reach the 39th spot. Zimbabwe's Brian Bennett gained 25 places to finish at the 96th position after he played two brutal cameos in the two games against the India National Cricket Team.

Ravi Bishnoi bags 14th spot in the ICC T20I rankings for bowlers

In terms of ICC T20I rankings for bowlers, Adam Zampa (7th), Fazalhaq Farooqi (8th), and Maheesh Theekshana (10th) pipped India's Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. This is because the Indian duo isn't part of the Zimbabwe series and hence lost some rating points.

Ravi Bishnoi, who has been tremendous with the ball in the ongoing T20I series against Zimbabwe, jumped eight places to move into the 14th spot. Apart from him, Blessing Muzarabani jumped 8 positions to take up the 55th rank in the ICC T20I rankings for bowlers.

Hardik Pandya after missing the T20I series against Zimbabwe lost his top spot in the ICC rankings for the all-rounders with Wanindu Hasaranga taking the top spot. While Washington Sundar is now part of the top 50 rankings after his all-round performances in the first two games.